18 09 EU PRE OPEN

INDICES
Yesterday, European stocks ended in the red. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.51%, Germany's DAX 30 dropped 0.36%, France's CAC 40 slid 0.69%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.47%.

EUROPE ADVANCE/DECLINE
62% of STOXX 600 constituents traded lower or unchanged yesterday.
60% of the shares trade above their 20D MA vs 63% Wednesday (above the 20D moving average).
59% of the shares trade above their 200D MA vs 59% Wednesday (above the 20D moving average).

The Euro Stoxx 50 Volatility index added 0.55pt to 22.55, a new 52w high.

SECTORS vs STOXX 600
3mths relative high: Retail, Industrial
3mths relative low: Banks, Utilities

Europe Best 3 sectors
health care, retail, travel & leisure

Europe worst 3 sectors
banks, basic resources, media


INTEREST RATE
The 10yr Bund yield fell 1bp to -0.48% (below its 20D MA). The 2yr-10yr yield spread fell 0bp to -21bps (above its 20D MA).


ECONOMIC DATA
GE 07:00: Aug PPI YoY, exp.: -1.7%
GE 07:00: Aug PPI MoM, exp.: 0.2%
UK 07:00: Aug Retail Sales YoY, exp.: 1.4%
UK 07:00: Aug Retail Sales MoM, exp.: 3.6%
UK 07:00: Aug Retail Sales ex Fuel MoM, exp.: 2%
UK 07:00: Aug Retail Sales ex Fuel YoY, exp.: 3.1%
EC 09:00: Jul Current Account, exp.: E17.3B
EC 10:15: ECB Guindos speech
EC 15:00: ECB Schnabel speech


MORNING TRADING

In Asian trading hours, EUR/USD held gains at 1.1850 while GBP/USD eased to 1.2954. USD/JPY remains subdued at 104.83. This morning, official data showed that Japan's national CPI grew 0.2% on year in August (as expected).

Spot gold bounced to $1,952 an ounce.


#UK - IRELAND#
Investec, an international banking and wealth management group, posted a 1H trading statement: "Over the five months to 31 August 2020, third-party FUM increased by 14.1% to £51.4 billion (31 March 2020: £45.0 billion) and net inflows were positive at £391 million. (...) Adjusted earnings per share (for continuing operations) expected to be between 10.5p and 8.3p; 53% to 63% behind 1H2020 (1H2020: 22.4p), primarily due to the challenging market conditions described above and effective tax rate normalisation."

Man Group, a global active investment management firm, announced a new share buyback programme of up to 100 million dollars.
 
EasyJet, a low-cost airline company, announced that Kenton Jarvis, currently of Aviation, and Business Improvement Director - Markets at TUI Group, will be joining the company as CFO, replacing Andrew Findlay.


#GERMANY#
Covestro, a high-tech polymer materials manufacturer, has attracted takeover interest from Apollo Global Management, which may offer 8.2 billion euros for the company, reported Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter.


#SWITZERLAND#
Roche, a pharmaceutical group, said a phase 3 study of Actemra/RoActemra in hospitalised patients with COVID-19 associated pneumonia met its primary endpoint.

From a daily point of view, the share has broken above the upper end of a declining channel drawn since April. Moreover, the RSI is bullish above its neutrality area without being overbought (not before 80% on Roche). Above the horizontal resistance of August at 310CHF look for a new all-time high at 390CHF and 425CHF in extension.


Source: GAIN Capital, TradingView


#SWEDEN#
Ericsson, a networking and telecommunications company, announced that it has agreed to acquire Cradlepoint, "the US-based market leader in Wireless Edge WAN 4G and 5G Enterprise solutions", for an enterprise value of 1.1 billion dollars.


EX-DIVIDEND
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